Presidential front-runner Donald Trump has dragged political discourse down to a level of hate that is rare even for the Republican campaign. Having insulted just about every minority group in this country, Mr. Trump is turning his attention to the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.
The billionaire’s immigration agenda would repeal the 14th Amendment, rescinding citizenship for “anchor babies” — children born to undocumented immigrants on American soil. He calls for the expulsion of every last person who is living in the United States illegally.
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Other, ostensibly more serious, Republican candidates have the opportunity to distance themselves from his platform and to propose a humane, realistic solution to the immigration issue. Instead, they have affirmed and even outdone Mr. Trump’s bile.
Their comments may help them appeal to their extreme voting bases, but they won’t do in a general-election campaign. Republican, as well as Democratic, candidates must explain how they will improve the condition of all Americans — including much of our undocumented population.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said last week that he doesn’t support repealing the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to people born on U.S. soil, but that he would strengthen enforcement against anchor babies. He declined to offer details about what that would entail.
Many Republican candidates seem to propose discouraging illegal immigration by making the lives of undocumented immigrants and their American-citizen children as difficult as possible. But only Mr. Trump has been willing to own up to that reality.
Mr. Bush insists “anchor babies,” a term used to suggest Latin-American immigrants have children on American soil to shield themselves from deportation, isn’t offensive; Latino advocates would disagree. Other GOP candidates, even those who once called for sensible immigration reform, embrace Mr. Trump’s proposal to abolish birthright citizenship and deport immigrants who work and pay taxes here.
Gov. John Kasich offers a laudable alternative to their grandstanding. He has suggested offering a path to citizenship for law-abiding immigrants who have lived in the United States for an extended period.
Mr. Kasich was among the few Republicans who did not condemn President Obama’s executive order last year on immigration, which would temporarily shield from deportation — not offer amnesty to — 5 million undocumented immigrants. Yet Ohio has joined 25 other states in a lawsuit against the federal government to stop the sensible proposal.
Despite Mr. Trump’s apocalyptic predictions, the number of undocumented immigrants in this country has largely stabilized, and there’s little evidence that they pose a threat to Americans’ welfare. To the contrary, undocumented workers make up a critical segment of the U.S. economy; their deportation would create widespread economic shock.
Despite the nativist delusions of Mr. Trump and similar extremists, the United States is not going to expel millions of undocumented immigrants. Americans in all but name, they have built their lives here. Nor can the country continue to force them into lives of fear and uncertainty, and deprive them of essential benefits, such as aid for college, that other taxpayers enjoy.
Republican candidates need to take up these real problems, not imaginary ones. Reflexively rejecting any plan offered by President Obama is a losing strategy. If they continue their present course, they will make themselves irrelevant to Latinos, young people, and the majority of Americans who say they favor a humane path to citizenship.
First Published August 24, 2015, 4:00 a.m.